世論 What Japan Thinks

Japanese feel that flush of success when they can empty their minds and bowels of concern, it seems! This recent survey from goo Ranking perhaps revealed more about constipation than thought processes when they looked at where good ideas come from; we westerners can be proud that the replacement of squat toilets with sit-down lavvies has contributed so much to the Japanese creative process.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23th of May 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Exactly 50% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 12.9% in their twenties, 31.8% in their thirties, 27.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

My good ideas requiring inventive thinking most often come at bathtime; indeed my last two patents both formed in the tub. The loo is out of the question for me as I’m usually in and out rather swiftly, but the train is probably second-best as I’m quite often in either work or homework mode.

In Europe or Asia may seem like strange answers at first glance, but thinking about it it perhaps reflects seeing something novel; I know last year when I went back to the UK I got a number of ideas about what might be profitable ways to make money on the internet.

The photo above shows Rodin made out of toilet paper rolls, and was taken at the Yokohama Triennale of Contemporary Art by akame on flickr.

Ranking results

Q: Where do your good ideas spring to mind? (Sample size=)

Rank		Score
1	Western-style toilet	100
2	In bed	72.8
3	In the bath	69.8
4	In the library	51.8
5	In the car	42.2
6	In a nearby park	39.9
7	In an old-fashioned cafe	36.9
8	On a dry riverbed	27.9
9	Walking along the riverbank	27.2
10	In a Japanese garden	24.9
11	In the train	24.3
12	On the lake shore	19.3
13	In an art gallery, photo exhibition	18.3
14	In a valley	17.9
15	On top of a mountain	16.9
16	In a public bath (sento)	15.9
17	On a breakwater	15.6
18	In Europe	14.6
19	At the harbour	12.0
20	In Asia	12.0
21	At a family restaurant	10.6
22	At the airport	9.6
23	In the pub	9.3
24=	At the zoo	9.0
24=	At the cinema	9.0
26	On a department store rooftop	8.3
27=	In a hotel lounge	8.0
27=	At a hamburger shop	8.0
29	On the top floor of a skyscraper	7.3
30	At a Starbucks-style coffee shop	7.0